---
title: "Compare visa routes in a decision matrix"
description: "Turn marketing pages into a criteria matrix: what the permit grants, who may hold it, which income counts, what it costs and which questions need a professional."
canonical: "https://www.diginomads.win/prompts/visa-route-matrix"
source: "content/pages/prompts/visa-route-matrix.md"
updatedAt: "2026-11-10"
---

## Copy-ready prompt

~~~text
You are comparing remote-work residence routes for someone with [NATIONALITY], [INCOME_TYPE] and [HOUSEHOLD].

Candidate routes: [ROUTES]

Build a matrix with one row per route and these columns:
1. What the permit grants: residence, entries, dependants, and any path to long-term status.
2. Who may hold it: nationality, place of application, employee versus self-employed, and any local-client restriction.
3. Income or savings test: gross or net, averaging window, dependent uplift, and the evidence the authority accepts.
4. Total first-year cost: government fees, renewals, translations, legalisation, insurance and any required representative.
5. Obligations while holding it: minimum stay, address registration, reporting duties and renewal deadlines.
6. Tax interaction: what the permit itself changes, and which domestic tests still apply.
7. Open questions for a licensed professional in [COUNTRY].

Rules:
- Use the issuing authority's page as the primary source. Link it and include the date you accessed it.
- Do not state "you qualify". State the test and what evidence the authority publishes.
- Mark an empty cell "not published" rather than guessing.
- Keep immigration status, tax residence and social security as three separate questions.
- End with the three questions whose answers would eliminate the most routes.
~~~

**Use when:** You have two or more remote-work residence routes and need to compare them without pretending to be an immigration lawyer.

**Output contract:** A route-by-route matrix with primary-source links, explicit unknowns, first-year cost and the questions to take to a licensed professional.

**Inputs you need:**

- Your nationality, income type and household
- The candidate countries or named routes
- The outcome you want: duration, renewal, dependants, path to long-term status

| Variable | What to put there |
|---|---|
| [NATIONALITY] | The passport you will apply on. Routes differ by nationality and some are closed to certain passports. |
| [INCOME_TYPE] | Employment, freelance, company owner, pension, savings. The eligible income definition is usually narrower than the marketing page. |
| [HOUSEHOLD] | Who is moving and whether anyone needs to work locally. Dependent rules and income uplifts depend on it. |
| [ROUTES] | Two to five named routes with the issuing country. Add the official programme name if you know it. |
| [COUNTRY] | Where you need the professional. Cross-border cases often need one in each country. |

## How to use it

1. Start with two routes, not ten. The matrix gets shallow fast.
2. Ask for the source link and access date before you ask for a recommendation. Without the link it is a summary of marketing pages.
3. Copy the income test wording verbatim into the matrix. “Sufficient means” and “at least X” are different tests.
4. Take the open questions to a licensed professional in the relevant country. The matrix is preparation, not advice.

## Guardrails

- Every route has a primary-source link and an access date.
- The matrix separates immigration status, tax residence and social security.
- No cell says “you qualify” or predicts an outcome.
- Missing data is marked, not filled with a plausible number.

## Variations

### If you are already in the country

Add a column for in-country switching: whether the authority allows a change of status without leaving, and what that costs in time and travel.

### If a family member needs local work rights

Add a column for dependent work rights and the evidence required. A permit that lets you stay but not your partner work may fail the real test.

## Why this works

“Digital nomad visa” is not one product. Each route is a package: who may apply, what income counts, what you owe locally, what you must do while you hold it, and what it leads to. Marketing pages compress that package into a headline fee. The matrix puts the conditions back.

The prompt also keeps three systems apart. Immigration status, tax residence and social security can give three different answers, and a page that merges them is not a shortcut; it is a category error.

## What good looks like

A useful matrix has more “not published” cells than a brochure would. That is the point. The empty cells are the questions you take to the authority or a licensed professional. A matrix with no empties is usually a matrix with invented answers.

The first-year cost column should be uncomfortable. Renewals, translations, legalisation, insurance and travel for appointments are real, and they are the lines that turn a cheap route into an expensive one.

## Adapt it to your work

If you are comparing routes for a client, keep the client's facts out of the public prompt. Use placeholders and run it on a machine you control. If you are comparing routes for yourself, add a column for “what happens if I leave for four months” — the answer is often different from what the marketing page implies.

## Failure modes

- **The model says “generally”.** Ask for the sentence in the authority's page. “Generally” is where the errors live.
- **The matrix treats the permit as a tax decision.** Add the line: “The permit does not determine tax residence; name the domestic test that does.”
- **Every route looks viable.** Add a column for the constraint that would disqualify you and ask the model to fill it honestly.

## Related templates

- [Build a city brief from official sources](/prompts/city-research-brief)
- [Red-team a plan before you commit](/prompts/red-team-a-plan)
- [The research-desk skill pack](/skills/research-desk)

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